Writing device

ABSTRACT

A writing device capable of increasing the rate of writing, and reducing fatigue in case of prolonged writing. The device facilitates the handwriting process for sufferers from arthritis, invalid persons deprived of some fingers, students, computer users, pressman, and children. The device includes a ring that is an extension to a body and is made integral therewith. The hole of the ring is elliptical in shape, and the body line interconnecting the tip of a writing element and the nearest point on the ellipse intersects the major axis thereof at that point. A complete elimination of static tensioning of the fingers holding the pen is attained. A counterweight located on the ring on the side opposite to the writing element is provided to maintain the center of gravity at the point of support of the device.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to writing devices that reduces writer'sfatigue due to prolonged work, as well as allowing persons sufferingfrom hypokinesia of the fingers or having some of the fingers amputatedor absent congenitally, and also preschool children to master thewriting skill.

BACKGROUND ART

There are many writing devices in common use nowadays, which consistusually of a body shaped as a hollow cylindrical rod into which awriting element (such as a ball-point rod, pen, pencil lead, etc.) isfitted. However, after prolonged work with such devices the writer'shand becomes fatigued, this phenomenon being explained as follows. Thepoint of support is situated in said devices at the place of graspingthe body with the three writer's fingers. Efforts applied by the fingersduring writing with such devices are composed of a body grasping force(the static one) and a force for displacing the body end (the dynamicone). At present a number of the writing devices have been developedallowing of partially reducing the static force applied during writing.Nevertheless, there exists a great contingent of humans for whom anecessity of grasping the writing device during writing is an urgentproblem. Belonging to such persons are arthritis patients, those withhypokinesia of the fingers or with partially absent fingers. Inaddition, the necessity of grasping the pen during writing presents somedifficulties in children who start mastering the skill of writing intheir early childhood.

Known in the present state of the art is a writing device capable offacilitating the handwriting process, comprising a body carrying awriting element at one of its end and a shaped rest fitted on a threadedrod, at the opposite end thereof, said shaped rest following the shapeof the palm at the base of the forefinger (cf. U.S. Pat. No. 2,826,175,Int. Cl. B 43 K 23/00, Nat. Cl. 401-6, 1958). The device is capable of areduced static load on the fingers due to its thrusting against the palmso that the force pressing the writing element against the paper isrelayed to the palm rather than to the fingers. In addition, theconstruction of the device helps the writer displace the device by theentire hand rather than by the fingers only, thus reducing the fatigueof the fingers and developing a good legible handwriting.

However, using said device the writer's fingers experience a static loaddue to the necessity of pressing the body of the writing device againstthe palm. Thus, the fingers remain tensioned even at those instants whenthey could be relaxed for rest between the letters and words beingwritten.

Another writing device (taken as the prototype) is presently known tocomprise a body, a ring to held the body on the writer's finger, and awriting element. A sleeve is fixed in position on the ring which isfitted onto the body (cf. German Patent 3,801,333, Int. Cl. B 43 K23/00, 1988). The construction discussed above reduces static load onthe writer's fingers, as the ring retains the body in the hand withoutany additional efforts on the part of the writer.

However, the fingers experience static load while pressing the writingelement against the paper, whereas the ring cannot take thrust loadsince it is movable along the body on the sleeve. An additionalpermanent load on the fingers is due to the fact that the ringconstruction does not preclude rotation of the body of the writingdevice round the writer's finger. All this lays obstacles to practicaluse of the device by the aforementioned human contingent.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has for its principal object to provide such awriting device that is capable of eliminating static stress of thefingers during writing, thereby facilitating considerably thehandwriting process for advanced-age persons suffering from arthritis orhypokinesia of the fingers, those partially deprived of the fingers, aswell as for children mastering writing in their early childhood. Thepresent device has to serve for prevention of occupational diseases ofthe hand in individuals whose occupation involves the necessity forrapid and prolonged writing, e.g., in students, pressmen, computerusers, shorthand-typists, etc.

The foregoing problem is accomplished by the writing device of thepresent invention comprising a body, a ring for holding the body on thewriter's hand, and a writing element. The ring is in fact an extensionto the body and is made integral therewith, the hole of the ring iselliptical in shape. A straight line interconnecting the tip of thewriting element and the nearest point on the ellipse, intersects themajor axis thereof at that point. Such a construction arrangementenables one to transfer the point of support in writing to the joint ofthe forefinger phalange with the wrist of the hand on the palmar side,thereby providing static load relief of the fingers. The point to whichthe support is transferred is situated at the point of intersection ofthe straight line interconnecting the tip of the writing element and thenearest point on the ellipse with the major axis of the ellipse. Thismakes it possible to increase the stability of the device while writingand to eliminate static force exerted on the fingers holding the device.

The present writing device may incorporate a counterweight fitted on thering on the side opposite to the writing element. The counterweight maybe shaped as a projection located on the ring. The projection may bearranged at an angle to the plane of the ring. Provision of saidcounterweight in the device enables one to coincide the point of supportwith the center of gravity. In such a case a maximum stability of thedevice is attained, as well as a minimum effort for displacing thedevice while writing. The body may have a knurled area and/or recess toreceive the holding fingers. The device may also have a loop located atthe body end nearest to the writing element. The loop is aimed at fixingthe finger end onto which the device is fitted. Such a constructionarrangement enables one to use the device with a single finger only.Both the body and the ring may be made of materials differing inelasticity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a writing device;

FIG. 2 is a section taken along a line 1--1 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an alternative embodiment of the writing device provided witha counterweight;

FIG. 4 is an alternative embodiment of the counterweight shaped as aprojection;

FIG. 5 is a section taken along a line 11--11 in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an alternative embodiment of the writing device provided acurved body;

FIGS. 7, 8 depict general views of optimum embodiments of the presentwriting device;

FIG. 9 is an alternative embodiment of the writing device provided witha loop for fixing the finger end;

FIG. 10 shows how an optimum variant of the device is held whilewriting;

FIG. 11 shows how the device is used by an arthritis patient;

FIGS. 12-16 shows how the device is used by disabled individualsdeprived of some fingers or suffering from their hypokinesia; and

FIG. 17 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the device for writingon the screen of a computer monitor, or for pressing on a surfacesubstituting the computer keyboard.

EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

The writing device comprises a body 1 having a writing element 2 at oneof its ends and carrying a ring 3 at the opposite end, said ring beingmade integral with the body 1. The hole of the ring is elliptical inshape. The straight line interconnecting the tip of the writing element2 and the nearest point on the ellipsis 4, intersects the major axis ofthe ellipsis at that point at an angle which is most expedient to bewithin 28-35 degrees when the device is held by the user's hand mostconvenient (FIGS. 1, 2). The writing element 2 is located in a groove 5made in the body 1 (FIG. 2). The writing device may have a counterweight6 fitted on the ring 3 and appearing as, e.g., a thickening on its sideopposite to the writing element 2 (FIG. 3). The counterweight 6 may alsobe made as projection 7 joined to the ring 3 (FIG. 4). The projection 7may be arranged at an angle to the plane of the ring 3 (FIG. 5). Thebody 1 may be curved (FIG. 6). The body 1 may have recesses 8 and/or aknurled area for the worker's fingers (FIG. 7). The writing device mayhave a loop 9 aimed at fixing the finger end (FIG. 9). The body 1 andthe ring 3 may be made of materials differing in elasticity, e.g.,material of the ring may be more elastic than the material of the body.

The writing functions as follows. The user puts his index finger in thering 3 so that the point of support be at the joint between said fingerand the palm, while the finger holds the body 1 from above and the thumband the middle finger are arranged on the side body surfaces withgrasping the body (FIG. 10). The efforts exerted by the fingers areaimed only at displacing the body end while writing so that to grasp thebody 1 with the fingers which is the case with a conventional pen orpencil is no longer necessary. High stability of the device duringwriting is attained due to the fact that the point of support is broughtin coincidence with the center of gravity when a counterweight is sued.The point is indicated at Ref. No. 4 in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 6. Highstability and no necessity for grasping the body with the fingersholding it enable the present device to be used by individuals sufferingfrom arthritis (FIG. 11) and by disabled persons deprived of somefingers (FIGS. 12-16). The device can be held both in the right and lefthands. Whenever the user retains only a single finger the loop 9 shouldbe fitted on the present writing device so as to fix the finger end(FIG. 16).

The present writing device makes it possible to avoid the writers' crampduring prolonged writing. This is attainable due to the fact that whilewriting the fingers holding the device do not grasp the body 1, and thefinger muscles are relaxed after each exertion. This feature differswriting with the present device from that with a conventional writingdevice, such as a pencil or a traditional ball-point pen where thefinger muscles are consistently held in a tensioned position. Thus, thewriters' cramp occurs due to the fact that the muscles never relaxcompletely during writing.

Thus, use of the present writing device eliminates completely the dangerof the writers' cramp, considerably reduces fatigue while writing andrenders the writing more rapid. This in turn makes the present deviceefficiently usable by pressmen, shorthand-typists, computer users,students, and school children. It has been noted also that childrenusing the device master writing at an earlier age due to no necessityfor grasping the pen, and develop even handwriting within a shorterperiod of time.

I claim:
 1. A writing device having a support point adapted forsupporting a finger, the device comprising:a body with a longitudinalaxis and having a writing element at one end thereof and an integrallyformed elliptical ring at an opposite end thereof, the support pointbeing located at said opposite end where said body and said ellipticalring meet; said elliptical ring being formed within a plane andincluding a major axis disposed at an angle with respect to saidlongitudinal axis; a projection-shaped counterweight connected to saidelliptical ring and located on a side of said elliptical ring planeopposite said body; and wherein said counterweight is positioned andweighted so that a center of gravity of the device is located at thesupport point whereby the writing device is devoid of torque during use.2. The writing device of claim 1, wherein an angle of the major axis ofthe elliptical ring with respect to the longitudinal axis is in a rangeof 28-35 degrees.
 3. The writing device according to claim 1, whereinsaid body further comprises a recess disposed near said writing elementadapted for receiving the finger of the user.
 4. The writing deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein said body includes a loop disposed on saidbody near said writing element, said loop holding the finger of the userin place.
 5. The writing device according to claim 4, wherein saidelliptical ring and said body are comprised of materials havingdifferent elastic properties.
 6. A writing device having a stem, anelliptical ring and a writing element, the elliptical ring having amajor axis therethrough and disposed at the stem end opposite to thewriting element, the writing device comprising:a counterweight disposedon the side of the elliptical ring opposite the stem, said counterweightbeing shaped as a projection; and whereby the major axis of theelliptical ring is at an angle with the stem, said angle being in arange of 28-35 degrees.